Curtains in the bedroom -- JenniCam switches off

A notice on the Web site warns that it will be shut down at the end of the year

A notice on the Web site warns that it will be shut down at the end of the year

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A notice on the Web site warns that it will be shut down at the end of the year

A notice on the Web site warns that it will be shut down at the end of the year

Curtains in the bedroom -- JenniCam switches off

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After more than seven years of captivating a widespread Internet audience, JenniCam is finally going offline.

Jennifer Ringley, who now lives in the Sacramento area, became a digital phenom when she installed a Web camera in her Pennsylvania college dorm room in early 1996 and created a Web site, www.jennicam.com.

Maybe it was the fact that Ringley, 27, left her camera on 24 hours a day, recording every detail of her life, no matter how dull. Everything from painting her nails to sleeping.

Maybe it was the fact that Ringley didn't mind sitting in from of her PC topless, strolling across the room wearing nothing but a towel on her head or even rolling around the sheets with her boyfriend, never pausing to cover up the lens.

For whatever reason, Ringley soon attracted thousands of Web viewers, including many who bought subscriptions to see more frequent updates, and a handful of fans who set up tribute sites.

Over the years, Ringley went on Letterman, appeared in an exhibit at the New York Museum of Modern Art and helped judge the Webby Awards. She has been cited in hundreds of articles, appearing everywhere from The Chronicle to the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong.

But as revealing as JenniCam has been, Ringley has been oddly silent about her decision to shut down her site.

A message on her Web site says only that she will be closing the vanity cam Dec. 31. "Thank you for 7+ great years!"

Ringley didn't respond to e-mail. But some fans guessed she might have finally gotten bored with the project. Ringley hadn't updated her journal in four months.

In addition, the Los Angeles Times noted that PayPal, the EBay subsidiary Ringley used to accept subscriptions for her Web site, stopped processing donations because of the frequent nudity.

Ringley insisted the money she made from subscriptions was just used to pay the Internet service provider bill and other expenses related to the site, and did not raise a profit.

Ringley bristled at the descriptions of herself as an exhibitionist or Internet porn star. "I keep JenniCam alive not because I want or need to be watched, but because I simply don't mind being watched."